Los Angeles, 1968. Reverend Martin Luther King Jr. has been assassinated, and the black community — in pain and angry, for good reason — takes to the streets. Involved with the Black Panthers, actress Jean Seberg also manifests. In their villa, her spouse, Romain Gary, a famous writer, has just taken in a stray dog. Docile and affectionate with the members of the household, the animal attacks a guest, who is black: in fact, it is a “white dog”, that is to say a dog trained to attack black people. Because he needs to believe that the world can change, Romain Gary will entrust the beast to Keys, a gifted black trainer.
This dog, who is both monstrous and innocent, in that he is the impotent invention of racist white individuals, inspired Romain Gary to write the autobiographical story white dogadapted by Anaïs Barbeau-Lavalette (The Goddess of Fireflies). In an interview as part of the premiere which will take place on Wednesday at Cinemania, the Quebec filmmaker talks about her doubts about the project, about the subject, while the French actor Denis Ménochet confides for his part his terror at the idea of embodying the illustrious writer, the only double winner of the Goncourt Prize (for The roots of heaven and, under the pseudonym Émile Ajar, for The life ahead).
He’s huge, this character: I don’t feel like I’ve managed to get around him.
“All this is strangely thanks to my grandmother [la peintre et poète Suzanne Meloche]the protagonist of my book The leaky womanwhich I have never known”, explains Anaïs Barbeau-Lavalette.
In Paris with her award-winning novel for a literary event where various French publishing houses were present, the author and director slipped to the Gallimard kiosk…
“I went to Madame Gallimard and told her how much I loved white dogdeeply…”
Shortly after, Anaïs Barbeau-Lavalette received a favorable reception from Gallimard, but learned that the rights of white dog belonged to Diego Gary, the son of Jean Seberg and Romain Gary, and that he was living in seclusion in Spain. Never mind, taking advantage of the release there of The leaky womanAnaïs Barbeau-Lavalette knocked on Diego Gary’s door.
“I was in front of the look-alike of Romain Gary. It was disturbing. »
A conversation ensued which occupied a whole afternoon, at the end of which the host gave his blessing to the filmmaker.
“During the discussion, we also realized that Suzanne Meloche and Jean Seberg had perhaps crossed paths: the dates and the circles of militancy agreed, and there were not so many white women in these circles at the time. -the. »
Idealism and sincerity
The fact that Diego Gary gave his consent relieved the director all the more as her first reading of white dog and his immediate passion for the book dated back to around 2011.
“I have loved Romain Gary since before that, but white dog, it is not his novel that we read the most. It is somewhat in orbit, between the narrative and the philosophical essay. Valérie Beaugrand-Champagne, who later wrote the script for the film with me, put it in my hands while I was shooting Insha’Allah. She perceived resonances between the two stories. And that’s true. In Insha’Allahthere is this Quebec doctor [Évelyne Brochu] who is about to set foot in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. In white dog, we have these two privileged white people who are swallowed up and upset by a conflict that is not theirs. Do they have the right to take part? They will decide to take part, each in their own way, clumsily, but with great idealism and sincerity. »
Now, precisely, by tackling the problem of racism as a white filmmaker, Anaïs Barbeau-Lavalette, who possesses the idealism, the sincerity, but not the awkwardness of the characters, it will be argued, did she fear an effect backwash? Here, we think of this poignant scene of the film when, at the funeral of her daughter, a black mother launches to Jean Seberg: “We do not have much: leave us our fight. »
“There is indeed a mise en abyme, opines the director. This film involved taking a risk, which I assume. I knew that by going there, in our time, I was venturing into an area of risk. But the fact is that Romain Gary is white. It’s a book written by a white man, and for me, the central questioning of white dog is the questioning of a privileged white man who wonders how to be a good ally. The idea was to turn the mirror towards the white audience: because it is a film that is primarily aimed at a white audience. Because I don’t think we really realize that yet, white privilege. »
To add the filmmaker, there is a similar line in Insha’Allah “An Israeli character threw it at the character played by Évelyne Brochu. So, yes, it lives in me, this questioning. »
Throughout the process, Anaïs Barbeau-Lavalette specifies that she was able to count on Maryse Legagneur and Wiel Prosper to advise her. “These are two Afro-descendant filmmakers: they know the job, so they weren’t there to moralize the subject, but pointed out my blind spots to me. A character who is an archetype, for example… I learned a lot. »
Dazzling Denis Menochet
Obviously, a good part of the success of the film depended on the choice of the actor who would camp Romain Gary. With Denis Ménochet, unforgettable in Up to the hilt and Thanks to GodAnaïs Barbeau-Lavalette had a lucky hand: the actor is dazzling.
“I was terrified at the prospect of playing Romain Gary. Even today, he is an enigma to me: he had many faces. It was a bit of a Sphinx. He had several lives, several styles of writing, several names, even. I feel like he had a very strong public personality, but in private life it was something else, a mystery…”
According to Denis Ménochet, the truth goes through sincerity, a word that comes up, well.
“You have to be as sincere as possible, yes, and fully live the circumstances of the story, without trying to imitate, and really go there with your heart. »
Between the presence in public and the more introspective air in private, his Romain Gary convinces.
“It is huge, this character: I do not have the impression of having managed to go around it, continues the actor. I could count on a number of archives, interviews, photos, but apart from the fact that it was above all not a question of imitating him, it was his intimacy that kept coming back, and therefore this enigma. »
Far from being annoying for Denis Ménochet, this “enigma”, or this “mystery”, represented on the contrary a welcome space of freedom.
“And all this under the eye of Anaïs, whom I describe as a ‘heart full lungs,'” he says.
A tough adventure
By her admission, white dog was an arduous adventure.
“It’s the most difficult film I’ve made in my life: the subject, the COVID, the magnitude of the proposal…”
So much so that she wondered if she would continue her career as a filmmaker – rest assured, she intends to shoot again.
“I was afraid it was too big a risk. I was afraid of hurting. Because we live in funny times: can we name or is it better not to name? I consulted a lot with the Afro-descendant community. Except that it remains a sacred subject, therefore weakening… All I want is for the film to open up a dialogue. On both sides, I have the impression that there is this desire, but that we continue to move forward in parallel, out of fear: on the one hand, fear of hurting, as I was saying, and on the other, fear of having a speech stolen. But I feel a desire on both sides to meet, to stir things up and finally move on to the next step. »
The film white dog will screen November 2 and 3 at Cinemania and hit theaters November 9. Denis Ménochet is also present at Cinemania in the films peter von kantby François Ozon, on November 3 and 4, and As Bestasby Rodrigo Sorogoyen, on November 3 and 6.